March 20, 2023 - Foolish

     I decided to start naming the blogs each day so that if I or someone else wanted to go back and reread them they would be easier to find.
     On the way back from Rochester last week Nick made the comment about how self-disciplined he thought I was.  That’s likely not one of the things that is usually said about me.
     I lost 35 pounds last summer eating a no/low salt diet and swimming most days.  That may be the period in my life that self-discipline could be said of being a mark in my life.
     It for sure wasn’t on Saturday evening.
     One of the things I had learned while dealing with the side effects of the radiation was that my body didn’t eliminate fluids like it normally does.  I learned that through experience, not positive experience.  None of the medical team gave any direction that would be the case, not when they spoke with me personally nor in any of the written directions about my care. 
But I learned that what goes in must come out and I learned to be careful what liquids and how much my body could handle.
     Until Saturday night.  I love grapes and strawberries.  As I have done the last two weeks at meals, at supper I drank very little and I drank no other liquid the rest of the evening.
     But I ate far more grapes and strawberries than I should have.  They are mostly water.   That meant I had more fluids in me than I had had for two weeks.
     Saturday night was one of the worst nights of the treatments and recovery.  My body could never catch up and be able to eliminate enough fluid at any time during the night or the next morning.  It lingered most of the day on Sunday.
     To put it bluntly, it was a very foolish lack of self-discipline and a very foolish choice on my part to eat as much fruit as I did.
     There is often a connection between foolish choices and a lack of self-discipline.
     Lord, help me to have the self-discipline to make good decisions today, far beyond how many grapes I may eat.  My life ought to be marked with discipline if I claim to be your disciple.  The word disciple infers that there should be discipline in my life as your follower.
     I am foolish when I choose to have a lack of self-discipline when it comes to any area of my life, but none more foolish than having a lack of self-discipline when it comes to my walk with Jesus.  It ought to be the most self-disciplined area of my life, because it is the area that matters the most.  How foolish I have been at times in my life when I have failed to be disciplined in the most important part of my life.